Ali Shakouri, Professor
Electrical Engineering

Science and the Myth of Progress by Mehrdad M. Zarandi

It is quite useful in research (and also in everyday life) to look at problems and phenomena from different points-of-view. Very often we think we understand a subject well, but we run out of ideas on how to solve a particular problem. But suddenly, a different perspective emerges, and we realize that we did not have a complete picture. Quantum mechanics teaches us important lessons about the deterministic view of the physical laws, and Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem teaches us about the limitations of logical analysis and mathematical formulations. It is interesting to think about science and scientific inquiry in general. What and how much can we learn about the world around us? Science and the Myth of Progress is a nice collection of essays that provides a different perspective from what we usually see in scientific literature.